Syria: rebels fight Palestinian pro-Assad groupDecember 18, 2012 - When the revolt against Assad's rule began in March 2011, the half-million-strong Palestinian community in Syria stayed on the sidelines. But as the civil war deepened, many Palestinians have taken sides.

Clashes between Syrian rebels and an armed Palestinian group loyal to President Bashar Assad raged inside a Damascus refugee camp Tuesday, as the Syrian military deployed tanks outside, activists said. Also Sunday, an American foreign correspondent and his crew escaped unharmed during a firefight after being held captive for five days, said the reporter, Richard Engel of NBC. The rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime have made significant advances in the past weeks, capturing air bases and military installations in and around Damascus. Their offensive in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in southern Damascus, which began Friday, is aimed at driving the pro-government Palestinian gunmen out of the camp.

When the revolt against Assad's rule began in March 2011, the half-million-strong Palestinian community in Syria stayed on the sidelines. But as the civil war deepened, most Palestinians backed the rebels, while some groups  such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command  have been fighting on the government side. By Tuesday afternoon, the Syrian military deployed several tanks along camp's main entrance, the residents said. There were no Syrian government troops in the camp and most of the fighting was between rebels and PFLP-GC gunmen, residents said. The group is led by Ahmed Jibril, Assad's longtime ally.

Activist videos posted online show armed men moving through the streets of the Damascus camp, as people cheer their presence and chant "God is great." Gunfire is heard in the background, and the narrator says the rebels are members of the Syrian Free Army. The fighting in the camp has forced an exodus of Palestinian refugees and Syrians who came to the camp in past weeks to escape violence elsewhere in the city, according to United Nations officials. They told The Associated Press that the situation in Yarmouk is "chaotic." Civilians continue to leave the camp, with some heading to UNRWA installations around Damascus. Others are fleeing to other Syrian cities and many are headed to the Lebanon-Syrian border, said Sami Mshasha, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

A statement by UNRWA said the agency was "gravely concerned" for the Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk who "have experienced particularly intense armed engagements involving the use of heavy weapons and aircraft." In Geneva, the United Nations said 4 million people need humanitarian aid in Syria. World Food Program spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters Tuesday that about 2.5 million Syrians need food aid, but her agency can only reach 1.5 million of them.

Syrian Regime Bombs Palestinian Refugees; UN Condemns IsraelDecember 20, 2012  Two days after Syrian regime fighter jets bombed a Damascus suburb that is home to 150,000 Palestinians registered by the U.N. as refugees, the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday passed nine Mideast-related resolutions by large majorities  all critical of Israel.

The only reference to Syria during the session was to the occupied Syrian Golan  the strategic ridge captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and formally annexed in 1981. The passage of the nine Israel-focused resolutions came less than three weeks after the General Assembly (UNGA) passed six other resolutions critical of Israel, under its agenda items the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. That Nov. 30 session was interrupted for a one-hour meeting for members to discuss the Syrian crisis. After the U.N. special representative for Syria briefing the meeting the only delegate to speak was Syrias, and he spent 22 minutes defending the Assad regime.

Twenty-five people were reported to have been killed in Sundays bombardment of Yarmouk, an area five miles from the center of the Syrian capital where the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) runs facilities including schools and health centers for more than 148,500 Palestinians registered as refugees. UNRWA said on Monday that Yarmouks inhabitants had over the past several days experienced particularly intense armed engagements involving the use of heavy weapons and aircraft. Credible reports point to civilian deaths, injuries and destruction of property in Yarmouk. There are also waves of significant displacement as Yarmouk residents, including UNRWA staff and their families, scramble to seek safety as the armed conflict persists, it said.

Beyond Yarmouk, UNRWA says it is providing cash and food assistance to more than 350,000 Palestinians in Syria  out of a total of some 486,000 in the country  who have been directly affected by the raging civil war. The State Department said on Monday the U.S. was deeply concerned by reports of fatalities in Yarmouk and the situation faced by other Palestinian refugees in Syria who are also increasingly suffering from the escalating violence. The U.S. is the UNRWAs biggest bilateral financial supporter. Tuesdays UNGA session dealt with resolutions recommended by its Special Political and Decolonization Committee, including nine dealing with the Middle East, all relating to Israel.

Just typical of the Savage Barbaric Pro- Palestinian Mindset. Bet this Barbarian wouldn't care if eventually Israel were overtaken by the Palestinians ( Which would happen if " Right of Return" were allowed and every Israeli was killed !

Just typical of the Savage Barbaric Pro- Palestinian Mindset. Bet this Barbarian wouldn't care if eventually Israel were overtaken by the Palestinians ( Which would happen if " Right of Return" were allowed and every Israeli was killed !

Just typical of the Savage Barbaric Pro- Palestinian Mindset. Bet this Barbarian wouldn't care if eventually Israel were overtaken by the Palestinians ( Which would happen if " Right of Return" were allowed and every Israeli was killed !

Why housefly, you cannot defend Israel's indefensible actions at all so you divert to an blog from 2006, yes about 7 years ago on a hate site, it shouldn't be too hard to find these so called Arab on Christian violence through reliable sources, at least not twisted and skewed towards a hateful agenda, just journalism, housefly, reporting. And while at that, we viewers still wonder about our outcry about the farmers who killed 39 herders in tribal violence today in Nigeria, do they not matter Housefly? Is it only when Muslims kill people you use the dead people as a political argument? How sick are you Housefly, we all wonder how sick you are, at the same time you value israelis lives more than anyone other human being. It's amazing.

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